I don't think my Ford Focus is equipped to survive hurricane force winds and no one is offering a loan of their storm chaser vehicle,so If the
forecast is bad, I am going to do the sensible thing and wait for it to pass before travelling!
I have been back and fore to Wick from London for 22 years and have a healthy respect for the changeable weather conditions which all too often catch
a lot out of people out

Originally posted by vschnz
I will see you all next week!! Cant wait to see on the news, the 5 falling trees, the 8 lorrys overturn on the motorway! and the thousands of school
shut for a few days!!Maybe Brits should try to live in Alaska in the winter for a few months! Or in florida during the Hurricane season! In the Alps
when the temperature fall to minus 30 in the morning and YOU got to go to work and YOUR kid GOT to go to school!! Come on Brits,Get a grip!! I've said
it before, you live in northern Europe and should be ready for some winter storms!! (And ATS is a conspiracy site,not a weather forum)

No-one mentioned in this thread about doom and gloom about not being here next week. Geez, you sound like LauraUK brining that Negativity of fear
mongering to the discussion.

The OP [ if you had read it ] is to make people aware in the UK of a storm that has been and is currently under way. People in the UK [myself
included] dont experience such profound weather, the weather here recently has been pretty bad to be honest and completely out of the norm.

Now, do you live in the UK? If not then Shhhh it because you negativity is not wanted. If so, then prepare

We ARE ready for winter storms however this coming storm is a heads up for ALL to be even more prepared for.

I am DEFINITELY not looking forward to going to work on Friday, if it is going to be as bad as you say, I drive for a living and have a high-sided
vehicle, but as I am self-employed, it is either drive or lose money, and possibly my only contract.
I will have to be very careful, hope nobody has any tragedy befall them.

Scotland's been through worse before, stop getting your boxers in a twist.

We have survived before we will survive this.

They dont call Scots hardnuts for nothing you know.

edit on 10-12-2011 by Laurauk because: (no reason given)

Laurauk, please re-read the OP. This isn't about Scotland surviving, the main point in this thread is to warn people in England. They will bear
the brunt of this, especially those in the South of England. They aren't so used to this weather and when your facing the possibility of a force 3
hurricane, it is dangerous!

Originally posted by JackieO
Thanks for the warning,I am supposed to be driving from London to Wick (nearly the whole length of the uk) on Friday 16th to spend some time with my
family and may have to reconsider this journey if the weather is going to be as bad as you think.
I got caught in blizzard conditions one year and swore I would never do it again. Scared the living daylights out of me

I wouldnt be overly concerned about snow...at the moment. There is suggestion that there could be a leading edge of snow, but at present that is
heresay. Your danger will be travelling on the roads alongside high sided vehicles.

Unfortunately there is no ability to precisely time the storm yet, so it could hit its peak when were sleeping or like this week, when were all going
about our daily lives.

Keep up to date with the thread for updates. Watch the news and keep up to date with the MetO updates before you change any plans. Things are always
subject to change!

Well I for one will be following this thread as I did the last one. I have already been notified by our local weather people to expect this to hit my
part of the world Wednesday and that things do not look good at all. Already batterned down hatches and tomorrow getting the chickens and rabbits
ready. We have lots of big tree lining small roads and of cause, the sea. The tidal rivers are just about over in several places after the Scotland
storm.

That was an interesting article mel62, I hope you don't mind me quoting some of it.

Weather expert Tim Ballisty, a meteorologist at weather.com, said: “There are two main computer models that we use to forecast the weather and both
are showing an intense area of low pressure that will swing in across the North Atlantic on Monday, last all day Tuesday and into Wednesday.”

Mr Ballisty described how the huge weather system will “stall out” over the UK and the forecasts show the area of low pressure, that brings severe
winds and rain, will deepen and intensify across the whole of the UK and across to the west coast of France.

He explained: “What is interesting about this next storm is that the huge weather system that slammed into Scotland on Thursday was very
constrained, its damage was limited to Scotland.

“However, next week’s storm looks likely to cover the whole of the UK, it is tremendously wide and has a much broader scope to it.

“The winds may not be nudging 150mph again but it will certainly produce the same destructive power as Thursday’s storm.”

Mr Ballisty said the forecasts showed the massive storm will arrive late on Monday with heavy rain across most parts of the country, followed by a
very cold air mass, which will trigger sleet and snow.

The hurricane-force winds of at least 74mph will last through the whole of Tuesday and into Wednesday.

And Jonathan Powell of Positive Weather Solutions, who accurately warned of the huge scale of Thursday’s storm earlier in the week, said they also
had picked up the aggressive new storm in the Atlantic.

He told the ClickGreen website: “This storm will affect the entire nation, Monday will be a complete wash-out and whereas Scotland took the last
storm on the chin – this will hit the whole of the country square-on.”

I think it's interesting how these meteorologists must have the data for friday too but are holding it back, like the met office does. Is there a
policy in place that means the government don't want people warning until it's only a day or two before it happens?

Also interesting that these guys say it could cover the whole country not just one smal area.

edit on 10-12-2011 by DrHammondStoat because: ...

Not so much a policy, i think its more the unpredictability factor that prevents them from publishing warnings so far in advance. Scenario being that
the issue a weather alert for Friday and nothing comes of the weather. It could cost the UK money in preparedness and the credibility of the MetO
would be shot a bit.

My own opinion is that the storm we just had was not as bad as the media made out all during the day telling people to stay in. I drove between
Edinburgh and Glasgow all through the supposed worst of it and I didn't see anything particulary bad.

Having said that it was very windy and I don't remember getting any fore warning of it until the night before from the media.

I have a car porch with a plastic roof and would have put money on it being blown off, but it wasn't. It did plenty of flexing up and down but it's
still there.

It's very helpful to get ample warning of events like this so that I can have time to prepare, I might put some sand bags on the roof to hold it
down.

Originally posted by sinthia
OK, i'll buy it, i'm in the midlands UK, what do I do? How exactly can I prepare or prevent the storm from damaging my roof?

Unfortunately there is little you can do to prevent your roof being damaged, but you can limit potential damage or danger. For instance, if you have
trees in your garden, make sure dead wood branches are cut off. Tie down trampolines, Dont park your vehicle under trees or potential debris. make
sue your windows are locked and doors closed tightly.

make sure you have torches ready incase of power outages and warm blankets. Make sure you have batteries and power in your mobile.

Its the little things that can be done that can make your experience more comfortable. If you live in a low laying area prone to flooding, make sure
you have sandbags ready just incase!

Originally posted by vschnz
I will see you all next week!! Cant wait to see on the news, the 5 falling trees, the 8 lorrys overturn on the motorway! and the thousands of school
shut for a few days!!Maybe Brits should try to live in Alaska in the winter for a few months! Or in florida during the Hurricane season! In the Alps
when the temperature fall to minus 30 in the morning and YOU got to go to work and YOUR kid GOT to go to school!! Come on Brits,Get a grip!! I've
said it before, you live in northern Europe and should be ready for some winter storms!! (And ATS is a conspiracy site,not a weather forum)

Judging by some of the content on ATS you could argue that ATS isn't a joke site either! This thread is to warn people, not anything else. If you
don't like that, go look at another thread or create a thread about how "creating a weather related warning thread is bad for ATS".

Currently browsing some of my usual haunts after a day of Christmas shopping. I thought the mood would have changed somewhat in the weather
community, but infact it has worsened. I have been a member of certain forums for many years, some of the members work for the MetO and other
companies and are experts in their field. The comment below stuck out the most and rings true with trying to get the message across.

If the second of the two major storms comes off as per any consensus of major models, there will be widespread damage. The casualty toll is something
that we can help reduce by responsible discussion although obviously the Met Office and the media have a better chance of getting the attention of the
public -- still, when people hear about these storms coming, they may become new lurkers here. And to any such people, I would say, take any warnings
very seriously with these storms, the upper pattern is volatile, to get right down to basics you have a tight jet stream interacting with a very
strong gradient of ocean temperatures (colder than normal to west and staying rather warm to south) -- all the factors one expects to be associated
with major or devastating storms in the UK and Ireland.

Would say at present that Monday-Tuesday storm has 70-80 knot wind gust potential and the Thursday-Friday beast, if it comes off as depicted, could be
very severe (I'll say 100+) and not just in isolated hilly places but across populated areas of the south and central regions of England. Let's hope,
basically, that the models have the second storm wrong, because nobody wants to see this verify except a few disturbed weather freaks

Just on a point worth mentioning. If any of you live in Cenral London or within a stones throw of the Thames, please be aware that the Thames Barrier
will most likely be activated if Fridays storm verifys. As with the Novemebr 9th 1997 incodent, people may be evacuated as a precaution so be
prepared to move if needed!

London may experience something similar or worse than Glasgow with a phenomena known as tidal blocking. This is a situation where the water cant flow
out of the river because of the high tide. There is the possibility of Tidal Blocking in London that could in effect, "back-up" the Thames.

All I can say is, thanks for the heads up sir. After reading your thread about the last storm, I told some friends about it and they were slightly
dismissive until they saw it on the news. I'm not looking forward to it but at least I'll be prepared. S&F my friend and thank you again.

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